President Chen Shui-bian (
"Former minister of justice Chen Ding-nan (
"For the sake of collectively fighting crime and terrorist activities, there is an urgent need for both sides to sign a judicial mutual assistance agreement," he said.
Chen made the remarks when receiving a delegation made up of Canadian senators and members of parliament at the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon.
As the Japanese government made permanent its offer of visa-free entry to Taiwanese travelers last September, Chen called on Canada to follow suit.
The president also told the Canadian guests that his administration would soon decide whether it was safe to lift the ban on the importation of Canadian beef based on professional and scientific assessments. Chen said Taiwan would also consider information provided by the Canadian government.
With the annual meeting of the World Health Assembly (WHA) approaching, Chen also called on Canada to continue supporting Taiwan's 10th consecutive bid for observer status in the international health organization.
The Canadian parliament had passed five resolutions in the past two years endorsing Taiwan's WHA bid.
The president said yesterday he believed the international community did not want to see Taiwan excluded from the global disease prevention network.
A source at the Presidential Office told the Taipei Times yesterday that the administration may try a different approach in its WHA bid this year.
In addition to continuing the traditional strategy of mobilizing the country's diplomatic allies to initiate debates on Taiwan's bid in the plenary meeting, the official said that one of the plans under consideration was to highlight Taiwan's qualification for gaining accession to the global health body.
"It sounds a good idea to compare the performance of of Taiwanese and Chinese medical professionals to reflect the fact that Taiwan is more qualified to become a member of the world health organization than China," he said.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
COMMITMENTS: The company had a relatively low renewable ratio at 56 percent and did not have any goal to achieve 100 percent renewable energy, the report said Pegatron Corp ranked the lowest among five major final assembly suppliers in progressing toward Apple Inc’s commitment to be 100 percent carbon neutral by 2030, a Greenpeace East Asia report said yesterday. While Apple has set the goal of using 100 percent renewable energy across its entire business, supply chain and product lifecycle by 2030, carbon emissions from electronics manufacturing are rising globally due to increased energy consumption, it said. Given that carbon emissions from its supply chain accounted for more than half of its total emissions last year, Greenpeace East Asia evaluated the green transition performance of Apple’s five largest final
The first tropical storm of the year in the western North Pacific, Wutip (蝴蝶), has formed over the South China Sea and is expected to move toward Hainan Island off southern China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. The agency said a tropical depression over waters near the Paracel and Zhongsha islands strengthened into a tropical storm this morning. The storm had maximum sustained winds near its center of 64.8kph, with peak gusts reaching 90kph, it said. Winds at Beaufort scale level 7 — ranging from 50kph to 61.5kph — extended up to 80km from the center, it added. Forecaster Kuan Hsin-ping
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